What Cieque doesn't know is that Vex isn't some ordinary boy. And at the same time, Vex doesn't know that Cieque has the power to determine the world's future… More inside, story hopefully better than summary? Please R&R!

First of all, thank you for leaving those kind reviews! I felt really touched.

And now for the second chapter; it may be worse than the first one, but I hope you will enjoy it!

…So yeah. Er… enjoy!

Chapter 2

The forest was brimming with life as usual.

The leaves were brilliant shades of emerald. The thin branches swayed in the warm autumn breeze, and the thicker ones were adorned with colorful songbirds.

Disturbing the sound of wind and the song of the birds was the rapid noise of feet hitting the ground… if one listened carefully, they could catch the giggles of a girl.

And sure enough, a small girl was making her way through the woods.

Her naturally wavy, pale teal hair flowed behind her as she ran—it could have been easily mistaken for water, had it not been in the air. On her body was a simple, white dress; it made her skin seem paler than normal, which helped her hair and cyan eyes stand out.

Her bare feet gracefully avoided all obstacles in her way. Occasionally, she turned her head to glance at the albino deer that was chasing her.

"Come on, Aikish!" she called out, her eyes laughing. "I know you can run faster than that!"

Aikish's pure white coat glistened in the sunlight as he reared up, and the elegant golden antlers never ceased to leave the girl breathless.

The teal haired girl chuckled as she listened to the thuds of hooves behind her.

She loved playing tag with the forest animals. It distracted her from uneasy thoughts—main one being about the dangers that lay beyond the borders of the forest… particularly the—

She was so immersed in her thoughts that she hadn't realized that the only sound in the forest was her own footsteps. The girl stopped, and looked around.

"…Aikish?" she said hesitantly.

Silence answered her.

'Why… is it so quiet?' she thought as she scanned the area with her eyes. 'Even the winds have stopped…'

"Aikish, where are you?"

Still only silence.

Now she was feeling uneasy. "Aikish, this is not funny anymore. Come out!"

She heard a rustle, and her head immediately snapped toward the source—a bush.

"…Aikish? Is that you?"

But what emerged from the bush was not the albino buck.

Instead, it was a creature that looked exactly like herself, except with a flat chest and thicker arms and legs.

A human—the very creature she was supposed to stay away from.

She braced herself for whatever was coming. But the human wasn't quite what she had expected.

He—she assumed that it was a male—had a rather kind-looking expression.

The human had noticed the girl, and smiled gently. "Well hello there, young lady," he said in an amiable tone. "What is your name?"

"…" the girl's cyan eyes studied the human, and then relaxed a little. "Cieque," she replied rather timidly.

"Cieque; what a beautiful name you have," he said, making the girl blush a little. "Well then, Miss Cieque, what are you doing alone in this forest? Don't you know that a witch resides in these woods?"

Cieque stared at the man curiously. "A witch?" she questioned. "Nonsense; there is no witch. There is an albino deer, a few spirits, but no witch. As for why I am here, this forest happens to be my home."

It was the man's turn to stare. Maybe she had imagined it, but the man's face seemed to turn dark. "…Spirits…?"

Cieque nodded. "Yes. Everything in this forest has a spirit; the water, the trees, the animals… everything."

"…I see. Cieque, pardon me for asking this question: are you a spirit as well?"

"Not exactly," she replied. "But I am not human. I am the ruler of this forest."

The man nodded, the smile turning malicious—Cieque was sure of it now, and it created an unsettling feeling inside of her. Taking a small step back, she spoke.

"So… what are you doing here yourself?"

"Oh, I was just looking for the witch to exterminate."

"But there is no witch here," she said, eyebrows furrowing slightly. "So you can leave."

"Ah yes, I had originally thought that the idea of a witch was preposterous, too," he said, smile widening. He reached into his bag that was resting on the ground beside him, and pulled out a large coil of metal chain. In his other hand were strips of cloths. "However… it seems like I was wrong, after all."

Cieque's suspicions were confirmed. She turned and ran.

But before she could get away very far, she was held back by a large, strong hand on her shoulder.

Her sight was blocked, and her hands were bound roughly behind her back with the chains.

Before her mouth was also covered, she managed to yell out one thing.

"AZULE!"

Cieque's world turned dark.

"Azule!"

As soon as the name was released from Cieque's throat, the small, serene pond's water stirred.

A small figure flew out, and landed daintily on the surface of the water. "…Lady Cieque…?"

Suddenly, a magnificent buck appeared—Aikish.

"Aikish, where is Lady Cieque…?" the figure questioned the albino creature, suspicion creeping into its voice.

The deer shook its head, stomped twice, and then looked in the direction he had come from.

Azule was silent. Then the water rippled, emptiness replacing the figure that was once on the water.

The sunlight hit the figure that was speeding toward the direction Aikish pointed to, and revealed a creature with an elfish face and liquid body.

"Lady Cieque…!" Azule hissed as his body shimmered in the light. "Please be safe!"

Alquilas: I tried my best… again.

So… no Latin in here. So if there was any gibberish you found in here, just know that it's not Latin.

Also, I'm sorry, the last part about Azule may have been rather confusing and… very… uh… unclear, yes, there's the word.

So basically, I wanted to convey to you that Azule is very elf-like, and his body is made of water.